Jones: Bruins Embarrassed In Back-To-Back Nights
BOSTON (CBS) - The Boston Bruins need to get back to the States as soon as possible, because their two-game road trip north of the border in Canada was disastrous.
One night after getting crushed 6-1 by Phil Kessel and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bruins were shellacked by the Canadiens at the Bell Centre in Montreal by the final count of 5-1.
The Bruins have now lost eight of their last nine regular season games to the Habs.
After the game, 98.5 The Sports Hub's Adam Jones caught up with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers of the Bruins Radio Network to break it all down.
There are many questions facing this team right now -- both personnel-wise and mentality-wise. Dave Goucher thinks this team needs a shot in the arm.
"Right now I think they'll look to Providence to maybe shake this [roster] up a little bit. Alex Khokhlachev was [called] up tonight and I thought there was a possibility he might get into this game, but he was on emergency recall. Everyone that was banged up on the Bruins was able to play in this game, but Khokhlachev has been playing well down in the minors and so has first round pick David Pastrnak, who leads his team in scoring in Providence," said Goucher. "After these last two games there's a need for change. How dramatic it will be between now and Saturday remains to be seen. These last two nights have been pretty ugly."
Former player and Bruins radio color man Bob Beers believes this team is at a crossroads of sorts. As a player, you can't just sit around and hope that help is on the way -- not when you've been outscored 11-2 in your last two games.
"They've got to dig themselves out. You've got to look yourself in the mirror. As a player you can't sit in that locker room and wait for change. You've got to change it yourself. I imagine there will be an internal meeting at some point, whether it's today or tomorrow," said Beers. "I caution, because sometimes there's knee jerk reactions to a game, or two games. But I think it's more than that. Look at the whole body of work with what they have now. They're 10-8 right now, and usually by 15-20 games you can tell what you have in your team and what you need. If there were questions ahead of time, and there were, there's still a lot of questions now -- and it's not just personnel-wise. It's mental too, and how as a team they handle this adversity."
After his chat with Dave and Bob, Adam Jones provided three highlights and three lowlights from the game in a segment he calls "Plus/Minus."
Not many highlights to take away from this game, but there were some.
Plus
At Least They Played Well In The First Period
"Dougie Hamilton gets the goal to get the Bruins going on the power play, his fourth goal of the season. It came at 16:04 in the first period. The Bruins had a 1-0 lead, they outshot Montreal 11-6 and it looked like things would go well. Unfortunately it was all downhill from there."
Penalty Kill
"I thought the Bruins also did a decent job on the penalty kill tonight. I know they gave up a late power play goal to Jiri Sekac, but they killed off the first four power plays they faced in the game. I thought they did a pretty decent job. The start could have been a lot worse if it wasn't for the Bruins penalty kill early."
The Road Trip Is Over
"Two nights north of the border and you get outscored 11-2. It was about as ugly as it gets. It was the first time the Bruins have lost back-to-back games by four goals or more since 2012. It's uncharted territory for the Bruins, but at least it's over. Over and done with."
Minus
The Dale Weise Penalty Shot
"It started with a brutal turnover by Carl Soderberg that led to Dennis Seidenberg having to lay out and trip Dale Weise -- a thorn in the Bruins side. Weise was then in turn rewarded with a penalty shot, and it didn't go well for the B's. More salt in the wound for the Boston Bruins. Not only is it Montreal getting the penalty shot, but it's Dale freaking Weise; the same guy Milan Lucic wanted to fight in the handshake line in the playoffs. Weise had a Gordie Howe hat trick tonight: a goal, an assist and a fight."
Bruins Top Defensive Pairing
"Dougie Hamilton and Dennis Seidenberg struggled mightily yet again."
Patrice Bergeron's Line
"They were out there for three goals just like Seidenberg and Hamilton. All five of those players -- Bergeron, Marchand, Smith, Seidenberg and Hamilton -- were minus-3 each. Bergeron's line had just seven shots on goal, and Bergeron won less than half of his faceoffs tonight."
Listen below for the full postgame recap!
Hear every game of the 2014-15 Boston Bruins season on 98.5 The Sports Hub — the flagship station of the Boston Bruins. Pregame coverage with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers begins 30 minutes prior to every game!
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